This illustration features a selection of the year's most important persons and events - both international and local.

Clockwise:

Catherine Mountbatten-Windsor & William Mountbatten-Windsor (got married), Peter Müller (became a judge at Bundesverfassungsgericht - the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany), Thomas Gottschalk (quit hosting one of the most famous German TV shows), Dominique Strauss-Kahn (resigned from being IMF Managing Director after allegations of sexual assault), Steve Jobs (died in October),Osama Bin Laden (killed by a Navy Seals team in May),Christian Wulff (President of Germany who got in trouble because of an unmentioned credit),Hosni Mubarak (had to step down during the revolution in Egypt),Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster,Zwickauer Terrorzelle (a right-wing German terror group which was uncovered in November),Anders Behring Breivik (killed more than 70 people in Norway and got arrested),Muammar Gaddafi (killed during the Libyan civil war by one of the rebels),Vicco von Bülow aka Loriot (famous German comedian who died at the age of 87),Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (former German defense minister who had to resign from his position),Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (became Minister-President of Saarland, Germany) andWinfried Kretschmann (German green politician who dealt with the public protests against Stuttgart 21).